Trip Report Palau 02/16-03/03

[Travelnsj]

AlaskaDiver,

Sorry to hear about your experience with Sams....I have dove with them for the past 6 years until this year. I have always had a very good experience....But....and a very big BUT is I have dove with Keith for the last few years at Sams....He left Sams a few months ago to start up his Palaudive/DivePalau operation again. the reason why...he does not believe in that cattle boat thing!

Read my dive report I posted today....No more than 6 people on the boat and 4 most of the time. I have dove the world over....nothing like Palau...or Keith...Try it again but with the right guy....It will be the best diving ever.

If you need any info just message me.

 

[AlaskaDiver]

I guess we can at least agree that Micronesia is located above the equator (6.5 degrees north latitude.) The NY Times Guide to Essential Knowledge and the CIA factbook (http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/fm.html) both describe Micronesia's locale as "the North Pacific", logically enough. No doubt it is frequently lumped together with other islands in a catchall usage of the phrase "South Pacific"; this, however, is inaccurate.

Send that NY Times Guide editor and the CIA editor a map of the world. They reference Micronesia as being part of the North Pacific for the sake of simplicity. Pretty much the same way as I refenced my desired future locations for diving as the South Pacific. Micronesia while having some of itself (including Palau) above the equator in the North Pacific also has some of itself below the equator technically making it in the South Pacific as well. I made my inital statement to see more of the South Pacific as am interested in seeing more of Melanesian and perhaps Polynesian destinations. Papua New Guinea was a liveaboard destination that was fantastic. Most of the SB'ers are not as retentive as you are about the semantics of the locale.

I want to explore more of the islands. There are so many other islands to see that sticking to repetitively going back to the same location is somewhat limiting. Kind of like Alaskans going to Hawaii each year on a mini-vacation. It has some nice spots, fulfills the need to dive, is an inexpensive flight and it's the shortest trip to a warm water destination for us.

 

[AlaskaDiver]

AlaskaDiver,

Sorry to hear about your experience with Sams....I have dove with them for the past 6 years until this year. I have always had a very good experience....But....and a very big BUT is I have dove with Keith for the last few years at Sams....He left Sams a few months ago to start up his Palaudive/DivePalau operation again. the reason why...he does not believe in that cattle boat thing!

Read my dive report I posted today....No more than 6 people on the boat and 4 most of the time. I have dove the world over....nothing like Palau...or Keith...Try it again but with the right guy....It will be the best diving ever.

If you need any info just message me.

I too noticed that some of the DM's were also noting thtat this summer they would start up their own businesses and offered us their information and suggested we return for a visit with them. The individual we had travelled with there was a long time diver who had been with Sam's in the 90's and again in early 2001. He was very disappointed about the lack of interest in diversity (wrecks, WWI historical land hikes instead of sitting for 2.5 hours on a beach).

I will pass along the information to our friend who spends several months a year between the Philippines with his diving adventures in Palau. he will be happy to read the trip report and about Keith's Palaudive.

 

[Cacia]

I read yesterday that we lost 6,000 men on Pelelui alone....and 12,000 Japanese were killed. It is hard to wrap my mind around that. We hiked to some Japanese encampments on Two Dog Island and went into some caves that had Japanese tally's for counting days or something....lots of ordinances still heaped around.

my number is off. I read casualties as "killed". Still, 1,400 is amazing on a small "coral patch."

 

[Kevrumbo]

Obligatory for every American visiting Palau . . .read up on and go visit Peleliu. I always take a solitary tour of the Battlefield on my Surface Interval.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Peleliu
http://www.scubaboard.com/showpost.php?p=1490297&postcount=14

 

[cdiver2]

Yap

 

[Cacia]

wow, I just did not really comprehend the magnitude.
Kevrumbo, those numbers of American casualities are different than the ones I read in the Marine Corps Times, ysterday.....maybe I should double check but I am pretty sure it said 6,000 "on Peleliu alone". Thanks for the link too, I enjoyed that, Doc always has something profound to say. again, I interpreted the casualty number wrong.

I see Iwo was the most costly battle, in lives?

 

[Kevrumbo]

Proportionately, casualties on Peleliu closely approximated those suffered later on Iwo Jima. Some would even say that Peleliu was the toughest battle of the entire Pacific War (from E.B Sledge, With the Old Breed).

 

[Cacia]

Is that a good book? I may send it to JB. I feel really rotten that we dd not go ashore at Pelelui, he wanted to. Maybe next time. These are the Japanese encampmenets on Two Dog. The guys were quite happy to be looking at all the stuff still in the caves.

 

[Kevrumbo]

Is that a good book? I may send it to JB. I feel really rotten that we dd not go ashore at Pelelui, he wanted to. Maybe next time. These are the Japanese encampmenets on Two Dog. The guys were quite happy to be looking at all the stuff still in the caves.

Excellent book on the fighting Marines in WWII, and the horrible hellish conditions they endured on Peleliu & Okinawa. Should be able to find it in any bookstore (bought my copy at the Arizona Memorial. . .)